Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Sunday called on the United States to release eight Iranians who he said were being held illegally, noting that his country made a humanitarian gesture last week in releasing an American woman held since July 2009. Ahmadinejad, who arrived in New York on Sunday to attend the annual UN General Assembly meeting, also played down the impact of sanctions imposed by the international community on Iran over its nuclear activities. Iran on Sept. 14 released Sarah Shourd, 32, one of three Americans held in Iran for more than a year on suspicion of espionage. She arrived back in the US Sunday and was due to hold a news conference later in the day in New York. Ahmadinejad, speaking through a translator in an interview on the ABC program “This Week,” called her release “a huge humanitarian gesture.” “So I believe that it would not be misplaced to ask that the US government should take a humanitarian gesture to release the Iranians who were illegally arrested and detained here in the United States,” Ahmadinejad said, referring to eight Iranians without naming them. Ahmadinejad was one of several foreign leaders to hold separate meetings with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. A UN statement said Ban “stressed the importance of respecting fundamental civil and political rights” but the statement did not mention any specific issue in Iran. The statement also said Ban told Ahmadinejad he hoped Iran would “engage constructively” to resolve its nuclear standoff with the West. Major powers are due to discuss the matter in New York this week but no meeting with Iran has been set.
